Jumat, 19 Juli 2013

New Car: 2014 Honda Fit/Jazz

Lo and behold, everyone, this is the hotly awaited third-generation 2014 Honda Jazz
(or Fit in Japan and the US). It heralds a brand new design direction
for the Japanese automaker, and is the Jazz’s biggest stylistic
departure yet since the original model debuted in 2001. There are huge gains in efficiency too, as first details of the Jazz Hybrid are revealed.

The first-generation Jazz was a masterclass in interior packaging (it
debuted the ingenious UltraSeats), but it did so at the expense of
exterior design harmony. The egg-shaped design was carried over in a
more refined form for the second-generation Jazz, which is now Honda Malaysia’s biggest-selling model in Jazz 1.5 Petrol and Jazz Hybrid forms.

This all-new model eschews much of its predecessors’ styling traits
to debut Honda’s new design language dubbed Exciting H Design. The basic
shape remains but it has taken a much more aggressive approach, both at
the front and rear. The sides too possess dramatic lines and deep
creases to appear more sophisticated than ever before.

There’s a stark departure on the inside too. Simplification is the
chosen direction here, with most dashboard buttons replaced by
touch-based controls. There’s a large touchscreen panel that sits flush
on the dashboard where the audio controls used to be, with an intuitive
smartphone-like interface. The air-con controls are all new too, now
using touch pads.

The dashboard layout follows much of what was shown in the Honda Urban SUV Concept earlier this year, which previews a new Jazz-based crossover that will take on the Nissan Juke and Ford EcoSport, as well as the upcoming Volkswagen Taigun. Production of the future SUV will follow that of the new Jazz, slated to be towards the end of this year or early 2014.

Changes are abound on the hardware front as well, as we now have
details of the new Jazz Hybrid model. Headlining figure is its claimed
fuel consumption figure of 36.4 km per litre, a 35% improvement over the
current model and the best of all hybrid vehicles in Japan (not
counting plug-in hybrids – the Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid does 70.4 km/L).